Some incidents can change your life
by Harry Ashhworth Black
Summary: Harry is frustrated at everyone's reaction to his name coming out of the Goblet. However, he did not anticipate that he would meet someone who would change the entire course of his life. Read the story of a more pro-active,logical and ruthless Harry Potter who will eliminate his enemies at any cost. Harry/OC. Will try to minimize bashing,but still it will be there.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer****: I don't own Harry Potter. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and I don't intend to make any profit out of this story.**

**Author's Note****: This story begins after Harry's name came out of the Goblet of fire. It is an AU story with a lot of divergence from the canon. Here, in my story, even Hermione didn't believe Harry when Harry pleaded to her that he didn't put his name.**

It was midnight. Harry was standing very close to the edge of the astronomy tower contemplating his action. He had brought his invisibility cloak with him as well as his broomstick, with his trunk containing all his possessions shrunken in his pocket. He was very well intending to get out of this hell-hole called Hogwarts. His life had become quite unbearable ever since his name had come out of the Goblet of fire. The whole school had immediately turned against him with many people calling him a glory-hound, attention seeking prat and things like that. The Slytherins as usual made use of this opportunity to harass and ridicule Harry for daring to become a school champion. It was immaterial to them, whether Harry had entered on his own or not. He was highly unpopular with them having beaten Slytherin in house cup & quidditch cup over the past three years. So, when Malfoy and his cronies and all the other Slytherins in his potions class mocked and harassed him by wearing those disgusting, stupid "Potter Stinks" badges, he was definitely unhappy but not very much surprised, since he hardly expected anything better from the slimy snakes. After staying here for 4 years, Harry definitely believed that all Slytherins were evil, inhumane creatures with no sense of goodness. Not even one of them had shown any sort of kindness towards Harry.

Next came the hufflepuffs who were greatly displeased with Harry for stealing their champion's spotlight. Harry understood their sentiments even though he didn't like it when even many hard-core loyal hufflepuffs started wearing those stupid badges too.

But what surprised Harry was the behavior of the Ravenclaws. Many members of the supposedly house of the intelligent believed that Harry had somehow cheated his way into the tournament to earn some extra glory, as if he already didn't have enough of it with the stupid "Boy who lived" title. It seemed as if the sorting hat had made a huge mistake in placing those people in Ravenclaw. Meanwhile, his crush on Cho Chang had immediately vanished when he saw her sporting a "Support Cedric Diggory" badge.

But what hurt Harry was the behavior of the members of his own house. Many senior house members like the members of Harry's Quidditch team who were quite cordial to him had suddenly turned on him and accused him of cheating and shaming the Gryffindor house in front of the entire school. Some of the 7th years who had put their names into the Goblet but didn't get selected were clearly jealous of Harry, and they took out their jealousy by hexing Harry in the common room. There were a few people who believed him, like some 1st and 2nd years, Ginny Weasley, Katie bell, Colin & Dennis Creevy and Neville Longbottom but they didn't dare support him openly being afraid of retaliation by the senior house members.

To his immense shock, Ron had sided with those who claimed that Harry had cheated his way into the tournament, as did the twin brothers Fred and George who still hadn't got over the humiliation of being ejected from the age-line with white beards. Harry was immensely hurt that his best mate had rejected his claims and insulted him so openly in front of so many others in the common room. But even more shocking was his other friend Hermione's Granger's stony silence when Harry was being accused of cheating his way. She didn't take part in insulting or hexing Harry but she made it very clear to him that she didn't believe his claims of innocence and that she didn't approve at all of his blatant rule-breaking. She also accused him of shaming Professor Dumbledore in front of the foreign delegates due to his actions.

The rejections from both his friends was too much for Harry and he had cried himself to sleep that night. What added salt to Harry's already sore wounds was that, even Hagrid refused to believe Harry's claims of innocence and cited that he was very disappointed with Harry for being the reason why the great Albus Dumbledore was facing a lot of flak.

Dumbledore, Dumbledore, Dumbledore, oh not him again! Harry was just fed up with the blind faith of some people on the heavily over-rated old man, who had done absolutely nothing to curb the bullying and slander against him ever since his name had come out of the Goblet, just as he had done nothing 2 years back when Harry was being falsely accused of petrifying muggleborns. Not just Dumbledore, but the other teachers too were slack in this regard when the matter came regarding punishing and disciplining those who were bullying Harry.

Harry never expected much from his Greasy haired tormentor, the shampoo phobic potions master who had a grudge against him just because he was his father's son. That man just allowed and even encouraged his Slytherins to bully Harry to the maximum limits.

The other teachers, especially Professor McGonagall were too loyal to Dumbledore. If Dumbledore didn't believe that the slander of Harry Potter was very much concerning, then there was absolutely no need to do anything to curb it. Apparently that was the attitude of some of the teachers. But it was not much surprising, since most adults had hardly been helpful to him in his life with the exception of Professor Lupin who had taught the patronus charm to him last year and Florean Fortesque, who had helped him immensely with the history homework and given him free sundae ice-creams.

His godfather Sirius Black was the only person who believed his word at face value when Harry had mentioned in a letter about how someone had put his name into the Goblet of fire. When Harry had mentioned about the behavior of Ron & Hermione, Sirius had gone into a lengthy rant against them which had somewhat comforted Harry.

So right now, Harry was planning to leave this castle for ever because this place had become quite hellish for him recently. Honestly, he didn't care that by doing so, he might break the iron-clad "Goblet of fire" contract and lose his magic, as long as he could spent time with his godfather. That is what Harry was going to do. He would somehow seek out Sirius and both of them could hide somewhere together, in a place that was free from dementors and the aurors. Though living with a fugitive on the run was not a great prospect, at least he would be staying with someone who loved him dearly for who he was and didn't care about his "Boy who lived" status.

As soon as he was about to mount his firebolt, he heard screams of a girl from a nearby classroom. Putting on his invisibility cloak and keeping the firebolt aside, he went to investigate what was going on. His inner Gryffindor wouldn't let him ignore a lady's screams. He slowly crept into the classroom where the screams had come from. What he saw inside made his blood boil.

Two Slytherin boys, Montague and Pucey had cornered a 5th year Slytherin girl and they were leering at her in such a way that made Harry's veins crawl.

"How dare you disobey us Shafiq! You will do exactly as we say and wear these badges proudly as everyone else in the house is doing. Or else, you will pay for it" said Montague threateningly.

"I will not wear these pathetic, disgusting badges Montague. What you people are trying to do is horrible. What harm has Harry Potter ever done to any of us to deserve this kind of scandalous treatment? Just because he has helped in beating our house in house & Quidditch cups for the past few years, are you guys going to harass him just for his name being entered into a tournament? Well guess what, I won't support this at all. It is quite likely that Potter is being forced into this tournament against his own will because as far as I know, he seems to hate all the attention on him. So, I will not involve myself in slandering him" said Shafiq defiantly, glaring back at Montague.

Harry could hardly believe what he was hearing. A Slytherin believed that he was telling the truth and was moreover defending him quite passionately? Never in a million years would he have imagined something like that happening.

Pucey grabbed Shafiq's throat and pinned her against the wall, his face dangerously close to her.

"Zarina Shafiq, you are a traitor to the house of Slytherin for showing sympathies to Harry Potter. We are going to teach you a lesson about what happens to women in Slytherin house who side with the enemy" hissed Pucey.

As Montague started advancing menancingly on Shafiq who was pinned to the wall, Harry grew furious. No woman deserved to be taken advantage of like this. And, He wouldn't let anything happen to this woman, not after she had defiantly expressed her support for him.

Taking aim from within the cloak, he pointed it at Pucey and whispered "Petrificus Totalus". Pucey went stiff and he fell down. Montague turned around to see who had cast the curse which gave Zarina the opportunity to kick his crotch making him howl with pain. She immediately fired two stunners at both of them and they fell unconscious.

"So, who decided to help me?" she called out.

Harry hesitated. He didn't prefer revealing himself but he was curious about this Slythein girl who had defended him quite passionately. So, lowering his cloak so that his head was just visible, he said "That would be me".

"Potter, what are you doing here?"asked Zarina in surprise. "Not that I am complaining, after all you might have just saved me from a fate worse than death" added Zarina gratefully

"Umm… I was just taking a mid-night stroll" lied Harry, but he felt somewhat uncomfortable lying to her. "And, I just saw that those perverts were trying to molest you and you know, no woman deserves to be taken advantage of like this" he mumbled with a small voice.

To his immense surprise, she smiled at him brilliantly. Her smile was so amazingly beautiful that it made butterflies erupt in his stomach. At that moment, the last vestiges of his crush on Cho disappeared and a new crush was implanted inside him.

"I never thought that I would ever be thanking a Gryffindor. But thank you so much Potter. I am so glad that you were here somehow. Otherwise, I shudder to think what might have happened" she said honestly.

"You're welcome. And Shafiq, I just wanted to ask you one thing. The thing is, I heard you talking to Montague some things about me. Did you really mean it?"asked Harry in surprise.

"Of course I meant it Potter. I don't care for this meaningless, stupid house-rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor. I am damn sure that you didn't put your name in the Goblet. Your facial expression when your name came out of the Goblet is proof of that. So, why would I want to wear those stupid badges? What they are doing is quite childish actually" she said smiling gently at him.

This time, it was Harry's turn to smile back at her, which he did.

"Please call me Harry. All my friends call me Harry" said Harry genially, giving out his hand for her to shake.

"I will, only if you call me Zarina" said Zarina playfully as she shook Harry's hand. At that moment, a beautiful friendship was forged between a Slytherin and a Gryffindor, something which happened only once in a blue-moon. It was the rarest of all kinds of friendships forged at Hogwarts.

"And Zarina, I too never though that I would ever thank a Slytherin. Thanks a lot for believing me when not even my so-called friends did. In fact, you are the only person at Hogwarts till now who has supported me so passionately. If there is anything I can do for you, please tell me. I will help you in whatever way I can since you are my only friend in this castle now" said Harry sincerely.

Zarina was shocked by Harry's admission. She was startled on hearing that things had become so bad for him even in his own house. At that instant, she vowed internally to become a great friend to him and support him in whatever way she could.

"Thanks Harry. You are so sweet. But it is in fact you who saved me. So, please name your favour. If you want any help in preparing for the tournament, please tell me. I will help you in whatever way I can" said Zarina.

Harry's first instinct was to deny her help but then he thought that, since he had no one else except Sirius to rely on, he might as well have some extra help. After all, Moody had mentioned that cheating had been an integral part of the tri-wizard tournament in the past.

"I would love to have your help Zarina" said Harry smiling at her.

Zarina smiled back brightly, her face dazzling with happiness.

"Excellent, so now we have to decide on a place where we can meet regularly. So, what do you say?"asked Zarina.

"Well, we can choose this classroom itself. What about the time?"asked Harry.

"It will be better if we meet here everyday early morning from day after tomorrow at 6 AM just after the curfew ends. Because, nobody usually wakes up by that time. So, both of us can easily sneak out and come back before our dorm members wake up. And don't feel bad when I say this Harry, but we have to hide our friendship from our housemates because if word gets out that a Slytherin and Gryffindor have befriended each other, the backlash from our house members would be terrible. Harry, this is not because I am ashamed of having you as my friend. This is an essential precaution. I hope you understand" said Zarina tenderly, looking at his eyes intently as if begging him to believe her.

Harry nodded at her in a reassuring way.

"That is quite reasonable, I suppose. So, see you then day after tomorrow. It is getting quite late" said Harry.

"Yeah Harry, see you day after tomorrow. Good night Harry. Take care" said Zarina smiling brightly at him.

"Good night Zarina" replied Harry grinning back.

Zarina then put a disillusionment charm on herself and started walking towards the Slytherin dorms.

Harry picked up his firebolt and put on his invisibility cloak and started walking back towards the Gryffindor tower with a spring in his step, all thoughts of leaving Hogwarts completely forgotten. His encounter with Zarina had completely lifted his spirits. It gave him such a warm and comforting feeling that there was at least one person in this castle who believed his word and supported him wholeheartedly, and surprisingly it was an older Slytherin girl with whom he had never talked to before.

When he reached the common room, he was relieved to see that there was no one there and everybody had gone to sleep. He went to his dormitory and immediately pounced on his bed. As he laid down on his bed to sleep, the image of a smiling blue-eyed, black-haired, fair-complexioned Slytherin came to his mind. Tonight had been an absolutely wonderful night. He had saved a beautiful lady from a fate worse than death, made a new friend, gained a lot of self-confidence and finally decided to stay back at Hogwarts.

And that made him think about Zarina. She was sweet, compassionate, kind and a dazzling, beautiful smile. What confused him was that how could she be a Slytherin with all these fine qualities? Then, it struck him that he was thinking in terms of labels, which he absolutely hated when people applied it to him. He thought of Zarina as a person and found her to be super-amazing and that was good enough. Her being Slytherin or not was totally irrelevant. He was really excited about interacting more with her in the future.

With such positive thoughts, Harry immediately fell into a deep sleep with a smile on his face and for the first time in so many months, he didn't have any nightmares that night.

Completely unknown to him, this would be the turning point in this life that would change his life for the better.

**Author's Note****: Hope everyone liked this chapter. Meanwhile, I would like to inform everyone that I could be busy with my project and learning in future, my updates might be very slow and I may not even be able to continue this story. But I will do my best to see that it doesn't happen and ensure that this story is complete.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: This is the second chapter of this story. Hope everyone likes it. **

The next day, the residents of the Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardary were treated to an unusual sight. The boy who lived, Harry James Potter who had been sulky and brooding for days ever since his name came out of the Goblet of fire was looking unnaturally cheerful and happy, with a definite noticeable bounce in his step. He gave a mocking salute to some senior Gryffindors who were wearing the "Potter Stinks" badges, which made the bullies and slanderers feel quite confused.

Soon, he had breakfast in the great hall and was about to leave for the library when he was interrupted by Malfoy and his cronies in the school corridor.

"Look who is here? Poor potty, who has no more friends. Such a pity that the mudblood and the blood traitor have left your company. See Potty, my father and I had a bet. I believe that you wouldn't last for 10 minutes in the first task. But, he disagrees. He says that you wouldn't last for even 5 minutes" taunted Draco Malfoy.

The Slytherins who were standing around laughed cruelly. Harry felt a spike of anger and was about to lash out, but then suddenly he saw Snape looming around the corridor as if he was just waiting for an excuse to punish Harry. Standing 3 feet away from Snape was Zarina, who seemed to be the only Slytherin that didn't laugh along with the others at Harry's expense. When he looked deeply into her face, he could see that she was glaring at Malfoy and was itching to lash out at him.

Wanting to spare her the trouble of fighting with her own housemates, Harry took a deep breath and calmed himself down by remembering the glorious and fun-filled yesterday night. Giving Malfoy a smile of his own, he cheekily replied, "Aww Draco, I didn't know that you were so concerned about my life. In fact, from the 1st year, you seem to be following me like a lost puppy wherever I go. Sometimes, I feel that you have some sort of secret crush of me, with the way you keep stalking me around. Is insulting and taunting me a unique way of expressing your deep love for me? If that is so, I am so touched Malfoy" said Harry in a mocking tone.

Now, it was Malfoy's tone to get laughed at. His face grew redder and redder with embarrassment as the surrounding students from other houses laughed at him. Harry could see Zarina who was trying her level best to control her own laughter. But before Malfoy could retort, Snape came between them in his typical dungeon bat style with his robes flapping dramatically behind him. He was brimming with anger because, Potter's mocking tone reminded him a lot about his arch-enemy James Potter.

"Potter you arrogant, insolent brat. 20 points from Gryffindor for insulting Malfoy and a detention with me tonight at 8 pm" said Snape sneering at him.

Looking at Snape in the eye, he replied "Sorry Professor, I won't be doing this detention with you. It was Malfoy's fault and he is the one who deserves to do the detention" said Harry defiantly.

"Potter, 50 points from Gryffindor for your disobedience. If you don't agree to do the detention, I will take you to the headmaster and convince him to have you expelled for this" threatened Snape.

"I don't care Professor. You can take as many points as you want from Gryffindor. I no longer consider the Gryffindor house as my own, not after the people whom I trusted beyond anything have betrayed me. And, you can go to Dumbledore and complain how much ever you want. Because, I have been selected by the Goblet of fire to compete in the tournament, the headmaster won't expel me atleast till the end of this year. After all, I have done plenty of rule-breaking over the past 3 years and the headmaster has still not expelled me. So, what makes you think he will expel me for something as minor as an unfair detention with a biased, sarcastic, unfair professor as yourself?" asked Harry.

The students who were standing nearby gasped on seeing Harry's blatant disrespect of Professor Snape. Harry gave a discrete look to Zarina, whose face was shining with admiration. That somehow gave him the much needed courage to stare back at Snape, who looked about to explode, since his face was reddening with anger and hatred.

"Why you insolent brat…"snarled Snape as he raised his wand to hex Harry, but before he could do so, his wand was wrenched from his hand by Mad-eye moody who had just arrived at the scene.

"Now you are resorting to hexing students Snape. I will have to report to Dumbledore about this" growled Moody staring intently at Snape.

"But Moody, this insolent brat is refusing to do detention with me. He needs to be taught his place" snarled Snape with spittle flying from his mouth.

"Just go back to your office Snape. I will deal with Potter" said Moody.

Not wanting to embarrass himself further by arguing with Moody, Snape left dramatically, his robes billowing behind him in that typical unique-snape fashion.

After Snape left, Moody dispersed the students and then turned to Harry.

"Potter, please come to my office. I have a few things to discuss with you" said Moody.

Harry silently followed Moody to his office, wondering what on earth Moody wanted to discuss with him.

As soon as Harry entered Moody's office, he was amazed at the unique instruments kept in Moody's office. Moody who noticed his gaze said, "Dark Detectors Potter. These objects help me detect whether enemies or untrustworthy persons are lurking near. There is a sneakoscope there" said Moody pointing to an object at the corner. "It makes a whizzing sound when untrustworthy persons are around. But not so much useful here, considering that students regularly lie about something or the other" said Moody.

Saying this, Moody sat behind his desk, took a swig from his hip flask and asked Harry to take a seat.

"So Potter, how is your preparation for the tri-wizard tournament going?" asked Moody casually.

"I don't know what is going to be there in the first task Professor. After all, Mr Crouch had said that this will be a test to determine the champion's mettle to face the unknown danger" replied Harry.

"That's bullshit Potter. I had already mentioned to you before that cheating has already been a traditional part of the tri-wizard tournament. I am willing to bet that Karkaroff and Maxime might have told their champions about the first task by now. So, don't you want to know what the first task is going to be?" asked Moody.

"Of course I want to know sir" replied Harry while internally wondering why Moody was so eager to help Harry.

"Good, there is nothing dangerous as such. All that you have to do is get past a mother dragon and snatch a golden egg amongst its other eggs before it roasts you" said Moody smirking evilly.

"What? Dragons? And that too Mother Dragons?" squeaked out Harry in panic.

"Don't worry Potter. All you need to do is to play to your strengths. You can easily surpass this task. So, what are your strengths?" asked Moody.

"I am good at Quidditch. But I don't think I am allowed a broom to the task sir" said Harry in confusion.

"Use your brains Potter. You can't carry a broom with you to the task. But the rules don't say that you can't summon anything when you enter the fray. And summoning spells are taught in your fourth year. I hope you got what I mean" pointed out Moody.

Harry nodded.

"Good, so I want you to perform well in the task. No excuses. You are dismissed"said Moody waving Harry out.

Harry walked towards the library pondering Moody's words. Moody had given him an easy solution. But the difficulty was that, he didn't know about how to do a summoning charm. He would have to somehow learn that. For that he needed someone's help.

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Next morning, Harry woke up early at around 5:30 AM, finished his morning duties within 20 minutes, put on his invisibility cloak and walked towards the classroom close to the astronomy tower. When he reached the classroom, he saw that Zarina was already present.

She gave him a winning smile which made his insides flutter with pleasure.

"Good morning Harry" she said smiling brightly.

"Good morning Zarina" replied Harry smiling back.

"Harry, I have to say that your handling of Snape and Malfoy yesterday was just brilliant. I was about to hex the blond poncy git had you not delivered him a verbal blow" said Zarina with a mischievious grin.

"I am so glad that you liked it" said Harry smiling at her.

"So Harry, I promised you that day that I will help you in whatever way I can. So, I brought with me some books from the library which are all about the triwizard tournaments which happened in the past. You can get a decent guess about what your first task is likely to be, from these books" said Zarina.

"Yeah Zarina, thanks for helping me anyway, but Professor Moody mentioned to me yesterday that I will have to get past a mother dragon and obtain a golden egg without getting roasted" said Harry casually.

Zarina was shocked.

"Dragons? And that too mother dragons? What the hell were the organizers were thinking when they decided to organize the first task. Not to mention the extreme amount of cruelty involved in putting the real eggs of the mother dragon in danger and giving her a lot of pain and agony. Those selfish, heartless organizers have got no amount of shame or decency. First, they make such foolish iron-clad contracts that don't allow unwilling competitors to back out and now this. Have they gone insane?" she ranted fiercely.

"I know Zarina. I agree with you. But now, I have to somehow survive this task. If I don't compete, I will lose my magic. Moody says that I have summon my firebolt from the stadium and somehow outfly the dragon. But I don't know how to do a summoning charm. So, that's why, I need your help in learning how to do it" said Harry.

"I will surely help you Harry. It is not that tough to learn. We can practice now for an hour before we leave. But what strikes me as odd is that, why is Professor Moody so willing to help you out? That seems a bit dodgy to me. Did he give help to Cedric also?" asked Zarina.

"I don't know Zarina. I didn't ask him about that. But it sounds fishy to me too. After all, no other professor has offered me help other than him" said Harry.

"We can find out that later Harry. Now, our first priority is to make sure that you somehow get through the first task in one piece" said Zarina bossily.

"Yes ma'am" Harry gave her a cheeky, mocking salute.

"Shut up, you messy-haired prat" snapped Zarina irritated, but there was a hint of a fond smile on her face.

The next hour was spent on learning the summoning charm. Zarina very patiently and soundly explained and summoning charm to Harry. Harry initially had a lot of difficulty in casting the charm, but slowly with her guidance, his casting improved. Finally, after an hour, he was able to summon small objects to him.

"That is absolutely brilliant Harry" praised Zarina, after Harry easily summoned her hairpin to him. "You are a quick learner. It is only a matter of time before attain perfection in this" remarked Zarina with a brilliant smile.

Harry's heart glowed with happiness on hearing her praise him like that.

"Thanks Zarina, but it is because I have such a brilliant teacher, who is completely unbiased, unlike a certain greasy-haired potions master" said Harry with a straight face.

Zarina laughed without reservation. Harry liked the melodious sound of her laughter. He couldn't stop the grin that escaped his face.

"Actually I am quite surprised that you are not defending Snape. I thought that he was every Slytherin's favourite teacher" remarked Harry.

"Bah, that greasy git? Our favourite teacher? Definitely not, at least not in my case. His biased attitude, favouritism towards certain house members like Malfoy and his unpleasant, sarcastic nature has given a very bad name to the Slytherin house. Whenever a Slytherin does some mistake, instead of correcting or punishing them, he encourages them even further. I don't care about his unfairly awarded house points. I feel quite ashamed in receiving undeserved housepoints simply because I am in Slytherin. So, he is definitely not my favourite teacher and never will be" ranted Zarina fiercely.

Harry who was smiling good naturedly at Zarina throughout her rant just gave her a thumbs up in response.

"Say Harry, I saw you conjuring a stag patronus during your match with Ravenclaw last year. Can you please teach me?"asked Zarina with hopeful eyes.

"Ahh Zarina, I would love to teach you, but It is very difficult to learn. I had undergone a tremendous amount of mental pain last year in trying to learn this charm" said Harry, hoping that his honest words didn't disappoint her.

"Harry," she gave him a tender look that was very enticing to him "I am willing to admit that it might have been very difficult for you to learn the patronus charm, but I am not worried at all Harry because I am confident that you will teach it to me very nicely. I really felt very vulnerable last year when those soul sucking monsters were roaming around the castle and I definitely don't want to feel like that ever again. So, will you please teach me Harry? Please, Please ?" asked Zarina giving him her best puppy dog expression, on seeing which Harry found it very very difficult to say no to her.

Harry simply nodded at her with a smile.

"Yesssss " whooped Zarina happily and quickly hugged him, which shocked him to the core. Yet he didn't complain, because it felt so nice.

"Okay Harry, got to go for breakfast now. See you tomorrow then at the same time and same place. Bye Harry" waved Zarina happily before going out.

Harry smiled and waved back at her before continuing on his way to the Gryffindor tower, his grin firmly fixed in place. He couldn't stop smiling when he thought about how warm and comfortable he felt while she hugged him. Now, he had nearly learnt the summoning charm and there was still a week to go before the first task. For the first time, since his name had come out of the Goblet, he felt confident that he will be able to do extremely well in the tournament. With a grin, he strode to his dorms, picked up his bag and walked towards the great hall for breakfast, ready to face any difficulty head-on, that fate might place in front of him today.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note****: Hi everyone **** This is the third chapter. Hope everyone likes it.**

Harry had anticipated this earlier, and it just so happened that as soon as he had finished his breakfast, Professor McGonagall came to his table.

"Mr Potter" said McGonagall.

"Yes Professor" said Harry politely.

"You are to meet Professor Dumbledore immediately after breakfast. The headmaster wishes to have some words with you since you did not attend Professor Snape's detention yesterday" said Professor McGonagall sternly.

"Of course Professor, I will go to headmaster's office as soon as I finish breakfast" said Harry politely.

"The Password is acid pops" said McGonagall curtly and went away.

The Gryffindors sitting nearby who had heard this conversation whispered in hushed voices. The rumours of his confrontation with Snape and Malfoy yesterday had spread like wildfire over Hogwarts. The fact that he had openly refused to do detention with Snape had awed some people. Meanwhile, Malfoy had become the subject of ridicule, even within his own house thanks to Harry's words to him about Malfoy's supposed secret crush on Harry. As far as Harry knew, it had even resulted in a minor argument between him and Pansy Parkinson, if rumours were to be believed.

Harry looked around. Ron was soundly ignoring him, which still hurt him a bit as he was his first friend at Hogwarts. Immediately he finished his breakfast and started walking through the corridors towards the headmaster's office.

However, while on the way, he was confronted by the person he least expected to see; his first female friend, Hermione Granger. Her rejection had hurt him the most, as he had strongly believed that at least she would be supportive of him. But apparently, he was wrong.

"Harry, what are you trying to prove by continuously denying that you put your name in the Goblet? Aren't you ashamed of lying even to your friends?"asked Hermione glaring at him.

"I am not trying to prove anything Hermione. I am just stating the truth. I did not put my name into the Goblet of fire. I expected that at least you would believe me. Having spent 3 years with me as my friend, you know very well how much I hate all this unwanted attention. But I never ever imagined even in my dreams that you would turn your back on me" said Harry casually, but there was a certain fire in his emerald green eyes which made Hermione shiver.

"Oh please Harry, I know very well how much you love breaking rules and regulations. And, Ron had told me that you mentioned something about sneaking out at night would be the best way to put your name without gaining any attention. And moreover, if you were really innocent, Professor Dumbledore would have mentioned something about it to all of us. Not only that, the teachers would have done something about it. Have you got any idea how much shame you have brought onto our house by doing this? The hufflepuffs used to be quite friendly to us before, but thanks to you, they are quite cold to us now. Have you got any idea how much flak Dumbledore might be facing at the ICW because of your rule-breaking? Harry, I am completely willing to forgive if you just honestly admit your mistake. After all, the first task is coming up soon. Remember Harry, it is me who has been helping you in your classwork for the past 3 years. So, you obviously need my help to survive the first task, which might be quite dangerous. Otherwise you will die Harry, and I don't want my first ever friend to die" said Hermione emotionally.

Harry's frustration mounted to alarming levels. With a herculean effort, he managed to control his anger and replied in a level voice.

"Hermione, I appreciate all the help that you have given me during the past 3 years. You have been a very good friend to me. But Hermione, I would just like to point out that why are you taking some joke which I told Ron quite seriously? Yes, I had definitely fantasized about entering the tournament to impress Cho, but I had never ever seriously considered it. And during our second year, when so many of these hufflepuffs accused me of petrifying muggleborns, Dumbledore or the other teachers didn't say a word to the entire school in my defence to stop the slander against me. Yet at that time, you had wholeheartedly supported me. So, what changed now? And Hermione, I admit that you are a brilliant witch. But don't be so arrogant so as to underestimate me. I did face a 70 foot basilisk in my second year without any of your help, and I did drive away a horde of dementors last year, without your help. Now, next week, I am going to face a dragon and again emerge victorious, whether you help me or not. So, thanks for caring about me, but no thanks for your offer of help" said Harry with determination.

For the first time, Hermione was completely speechless. Vestiges of doubt began arising in her mind about whether Harry was telling the truth or not. A small bubble of guilt erupted in her heart, which she was not able to quash away.

Leaving Hermione to ponder over what he had said just now, Harry left for the headmaster's office. As soon as he arrived at the gargoyle, he shouted the password and entered the circular escalator which soon escorted him to the doors of the headmaster's office.

"Enter Harry" came Dumbledore's voice.

Harry entered the office. The office was just as majestic as before, with fawkes sitting in her perch, the past headmaster's or headmistress's portraits snoozing in their frames, and a wide circular room with huge bookshelves housing many books and a huge table which contained many unique spindle legged objects.

Taking his sight away from these objects, Harry focused his attention on the headmaster, who was flanked by Snape and McGonagall.

"Harry, please take a seat" said Dumbledore in a curt voice. Harry observed the headmaster and the two teachers, as he took his seat. There was no twinkle behind the moon-like spectacles. Instead, his demeanour was completely serious as he peered at Harry intently with his deep blue eyes. But McGonagall too looked quite stern while Snape was quite livid and glaring intently at Harry as if he intended to burn holes into Harry.

"Harry my boy, I have to say that I am very disappointed with you for refusing to do detention with Professor Snape" said Dumbledore in a grandfatherly voice, his tone laced with disappointment.

Harry looked back at Dumbledore straight in the eye and replied.

"Professor, I too have to say that I am quite disappointed with you for not taking any action against those Hogwarts students who are wearing those "Potter Stinks" badges or else slandering or bullying me on a daily basis ever since my name came out of the Goblet of fire. Just like you didn't do anything during my 2nd year when I was falsely accused of being the heir of Slytherin. Sir, I am willing to take veritaserum or swear a magical oath to prove that I did not put my name in the Goblet of fire. By the way professor, do you sincerely believe that I bypassed the protections that you had placed around the Goblet of fire, and somehow managed to enter my name?" asked Harry, internally feeling thankful that Zarina had told him about veritaserum, pensives and magical oaths during their morning conversations. Her Slytherin cunning was slowly rubbing off on him.

"Of course you did Potter. You are an arrogant rule-breaker, just like your father. So, it wouldn't surprise me if you did put your name in" sneered Snape.

"Oh really Professor Snape, so you are saying that me, a mediocre 4th year somehow managed to bypass the protections that a magically powerful wizard like Professor Dumbledore had put around the Goblet. Are you admitting that I am powerful and intelligent enough to do that?" asked Harry with a tinge of sarcasm.

" Powerful and intelligent, my arse" sneered Snape, which shocked McGonagall which caused her to say "Language Severus".

"You are just a mediocre dunderhead who has more brawns than brains" sneered Snape.

"So, if I am such a mediocre dunderhead as Professor Snape says so, then I shouldn't have been able to bypass the Goblet's protections and put my name, right professor Dumbledore?"asked Harry politely.

Snape gritted his teeth on realizing that he had somehow been logically outwitted by Harry. Professor McGonagall was impressed with Harry's clever reasoning and cool demeanour.

"Harry my boy, I don't believe that you put your name in the Goblet of fire" said Dumbledore.

"Then Professor, why aren't you taking action against those students who are slandering my name by accusing me of cheating or just wearing those humiliating badges? Why aren't you at least announcing to the student body that I did not put my name into the Goblet? It will at least quell the false rumours against me" stated Harry firmly.

"Potter, it is not your job to teach the headmaster what to do" said Snape glaring at Harry.

"Certainly it is not Professor, I am just stating my suggestion. It is my humble appeal" said Harry politely.

"Mr Potter is absolutely right. We should have taken action against the students, something which we failed to do so. Rest assured Potter, I will give detentions and deduct points from anyone who continues to harass you Potter. And, Albus will certainly make an announcement to the student body today afternoon that you are completely innocent in this matter. Right Albus?"asked McGonagall pointedly to Dumbledore.

"Of course Minerva, it was quite short sighted of me not to do so. Please forgive an old man Potter for sometimes being caught up in the big picture, we keep forgetting to do these small but important things. I will certainly make an announcement at lunch time" said Dumbledore tiredly, making Harry internally rejoice.

"Now Harry,that is not the purpose for which I called you here. Minerva, would you leave us for some time. Me and Professor Snape have some things to discuss with Harry" said Dumbledore. McGonagall nodded and left, leaving Harry in the company of Dumbledore and an angry Professor Snape.

"Now Harry, we got diverted completely from our topic. I was saying that I am completely disappointed with you not doing your stated detention with Professor Snape. Do you have any genuine reason for not attending yesterday's detention?" asked Dumbledore.

"Professor, before I mention my reason for not agreeing to this detention, did Professor Snape mention to you as to why he awarded me a detention?"asked Harry pointedly.

"Of course, Severus mentioned to me that you had insulted Mr Malfoy in front of so many students. Right Severus?" asked Dumbledore.

"Of course Headmaster. Potter humiliated poor Draco in front of his peers without any remorse" stated Snape blandly.

"Professor Dumbledore, I am willing to show you the pensive memory of the entire incident as it happened. I am also willing to give a magical oath that my memory has not been tampered with. Or if you have no pensive, you can read my mind. I will focus on that particular memory and you can view it in full professor. Please tell me if I still deserve this detention after viewing my memory" said Harry peering intently at Professor Dumbledore with his emerald green eyes.

Dumbledore thought about it for a moment before replying.

"I will view it in my pensive Harry. Do you know how to extract your memory?" asked Dumbledore.

Harry shook his head.

"Just focus your mind on that specific memory and slowly place your wand tip at your temple, and then slowly remove it while focusing on your memory, and place that memory in this vial" instructed Dumbledore indicating a memory storing vial. Then, Dumbledore went to his cabinet and took his pensive and placed it on his desk.

Harry slowly did as Dumbledore instructed and placed his thin silvery strand of memory in one of the vials which Dumbledore poured into the pensive.

"Umm Professor Dumbledore, I have a few more memories to show you in regards to the various detentions that Professor Snape has awarded me. So, will you please allow me to extract me those memories too?" asked Harry politely.

"Of course Harry my boy, you can do so" said Dumbledore kindly.

Rejoicing internally, Harry then continued to extract his other memories, all of them involving his unfair and brutual treatment at the hands of Snape in his potions classes.

Snape was truly in a fix now. The boy had quite intelligently outwitted him once again. If that brat showed the headmaster all the memories of his ill-treatment of the boy, the headmaster would be very much angry with him.

"Headmaster, is this truly necessary? Why should we waste our time in viewing through the boy's memories?" asked Snape.

"Professor Snape, this is truly necessary because these memories are highly relevant for you too. After all, I am sure that Professor Dumbledore trusts you very much because he knows that you exhibit excellent professionalism in your teaching and don't show favouritism or partiality to any person in particular. Am I not right Professor Dumbledore?" asked Harry neutrally, while he was mentally rejoicing at the panicked expression on Snape's face.

"Of course you are right, my boy" said Dumbledore, smiling at his pupil.

'Such a humble and sweet boy' thought Dumbledore with a pleased smile.

Snape was truly trapped now. He could not raise his objections to the headmaster without sounding suspicious. So, he just decided to hope for the best.

Dumbledore poured all the memory vials into his pensive. Then, the three of them entered the pensive to view Harry's memories. The first memory which they viewed was Harry's encounter with Malfoy. After watching the memory, Dumbledore expressed shock over Malfoy's cruel words to Harry and stated that Harry showed remarkable self-restraint & that Harry's words to Malfoy were harmless & were just said in good humour and reinstated all the lost house-points back to Gryffindor, though the headmaster was shocked on hearing Harry's outburst to Snape about the betrayal of his house members. But Headmaster was even more shocked when he saw Snape trying to hex Harry.

Then, after this memory got over, they continued to view the other memories all of which were about Snape tormenting him or Neville Longbottom unfairly in classes, for either breathing loudly, for being Gryffindors, for being the son of James Potter or for simply existing. In all these instances, points were unfairly deducted and unfair detentions were awarded by Snape to Harry.

After viewing all the memories related to Snape, the three of them came out of the Pensive. The expression on the normally calm headmaster's face was thunderous and a dangerous aura of power was slowly leaking off him. However, this time, the headmaster's disappointment and anger were not directed towards him but towards his potions professor, whose pallid complexion showed a hint of fear on seeing the headmaster's thunderous expression.

"What is the meaning of all this Severus?" asked Dumbledore in a stern voice.

For the first time, Snape was speechless. He had nothing to say other than looking down at his feet. The potions master was very close to wetting his underpants, due to powerful currents of anger which was leaking off the normally calm old man's face.

"I knew that you had a grudge against James Potter. But does it give you the right to needlessly and unfairly punish young Mr Potter who has not done any harm to you? In fact, I would like to ask you Severus, what gives you the right to bully Mr Potter, Mr Longbottom and the other Gryffindors and punish them for no good reason at all? ANSWER ME SEVERUS" roared Dumbledore.

This time, Snape did indeed wet his pants. Harry himself was shocked at the amount of anger and the flare of power that Dumbledore exhibited just now. It was at that moment that Harry realized why many people often commented that Dumbledore was the only person Voldemort ever feared. The expression on the Headmaster's face was scarier than that of a devil.

Dumbledore took a deep breath to cool himself down before speaking again, this time staring intently and fiercely at Severus unflinchingly.

"Severus Snape, as the headmaster of Hogwarts, I am revoking your previlages of handling out detentions or deducting and adding points, seeing as how much you have abused these previlages over these many years. In fact, I am going to offically reinstate all the unfair point deductions that you have done over the past 14 years and negate all the points that you have unfairly awarded to your own house members. Let me just see whether Slytherin did win the house-cup 6 years in a row only due to your unfair point giving. If I find it so, as the power vested in me as the head master, I will officially derecognize all those house-cup victories which would be declared null and void" stated Dumbledore firmly.

Snape just stood there silently not willing to anger Dumbledore any further.

"Furthermore Severus, if I ever hear anything about you bullying young Harry here or any other student, I am warning you that you will face serious consequences for that. Remember, it is only due to my power and influence that you were not sent to Azkaban last time. Had I not needed you as a potential spy in a likely future war against Voldemort, I would have terminated your services right here and right now. This is your last chance Severus" thundered Dumbledore.

Snape was too cowed to even give a reply. He just nodded submissively and turned around to go.

"And Severus" called out Dumbledore. Snape turned back.

Dumbledore placed a privacy ward around himself and Severus,so that Harry couldn't hear what was being said between them.

"Had Ms Lily Evans been alive today, she would have been terribly ashamed of your actions. If you truly loved Lily Evans, then be a better man that she would have been proud to call as a friend. And Severus, don't ever think that you are so indispensable to me as a spy that I will forgive all your transgressions every time. Just remember that" said Dumbledore fiercely before dismissing Snape, who quickly moved out of the angry headmaster's office, his pants still wetted with hot urine.

After Snape left, Dumbledore removed the privacy ward and addressed Harry who couldn't still believe what he had just witnessed.

"My apologies Harry for not taking action earlier and also for my sudden loss of temper. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that Severus would be so vile and cruel to you. May be some people are indeed right about me getting senile in my old age" remarked Dumbledore with a regret-filled expression.

"It's okay professor. I understand. I have a class on Herbology which started 10 minutes back. Can you please give me a permission slip so that I may be excused for late coming by Professor Sprout?"asked Harry politely.

"Of course my boy" said Dumbledore jovially, as he conjured a permission slip with due Hogwarts attestation, and gave it to Harry.

"Thank you Professor" said Harry smiling at Dumbledore who smiled back.

Then, Harry walked out of the office with a huge spring in his step and a large bright grin on his face after having accomplished a lot in regards with Snape in the short time that he had spent in the pensive. Now Snape would no longer trouble him or anyone else at Hogwarts ever again.

**Author's Note: That's all for now folks. Hope everyone liked this chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note****: Hi everyone. This is the fourth chapter. Hope everyone likes it.**

"Can I have your attention please?" said the Headmaster Dumbledore during lunch time after tapping his goblet twice.

The students and teachers of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardary as well as the foreign students stopped eating temporarily and looked up to see the headmaster who no longer had that twinkle in his eyes. In fact, he looked unusually serious as he stared at them.

"Today, I wish to address a very important issue. For the past few days, one of our own students has been slandered and ostracized, even bullied by many of you, ever since the Halloween day. I am of course talking about Harry Potter" said Dumbledore seriously.

The students attention turned to Harry who ignored the stares and continued eating his lunch calmly.

"There have been so many baseless and false rumours which have been spreading amongst all of you about how reportedly young Mr Potter had apparently cheated his way into the tournament. I am saying this clearly, these rumours are absolutely false. Harry Potter did not enter his name into the Goblet of fire" stated Dumbledore emphatically.

Most of the students stared at Dumbledore in disbelief, which included even some Gryffindors. However, one blond haired ferret got up from the Slytherin table and shouted, "That is not possible headmaster. Potter is a cheat and he has brought shame to Hogwarts because of his despicable hunger for more glory. He should be punished".

Draco's statement was met with cheers from many Slytherins and some hufflepuffs.

Dumbledore turned his attention to Draco, his face set in a thunderous expression. A dangerous aura began leaking out of the normally kind headmaster, which almost made Draco cower in fear.

"Mr Malfoy, that would be 50 points from Slytherin for slander of a fellow student, as well as 2 weeks of detention with Professor McGonagall" thundered Dumbledore.

Malfoy bristled internally, but didn't dare raise his voice against the angry headmaster.

Dumbledore suddenly waved his wand, and so many shirts and sleeves were ripped off the students when the potter stinks badges flew out of their chests and landed on the teacher's table.

"Also, 10 points from every student who wore these badges. Remember students, bullying and slander of any sort won't be ever tolerated at Hogwarts again. Just keep that in mind" thundered Dumbledore, before resuming his lunch.

Many students stared at the headmaster in shocked silence. Most of them had never seen their kind, barmy old headmaster in such a terrific form.

However, Dumbledore's words did have some effect on the students. Some of the students were now shooting guilty looks at Harry. However, Harry did not pay attention to any of them, and continued eating his lunch in silence. After finishing his lunch, he started off towards the library. While going towards the library, he found his path again being intercepted by Hermione.

"What is it Hermione?" asked Harry neutrally.

"Harry…I…" stammered Hermione. She seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"Yes Hermione, please tell me what is it?" asked Harry politely.

Hermione could no longer hold her struggling emotions and completely broke down into sobs.

"Oh Harry, I am so sorry for not believing you. Harry…please forgive me…" cried Hermione, finding it hard to speak because of incessant tears from her eyes.

Harry felt really bad on seeing Hermione like this. It was true that he had been extremely upset when she had turned her back on him. But she was one of his first friends and someone whom he considered as a sister. He couldn't bear to see her cry.

Holding her close to his arms, he comforted her by slowly patting her back saying comforting things.

"It's okay Hermione. Just Relax. Don't worry. I am not mad at you anymore" whispered Harry, hugging her.

Harry looked around and saw that no one was around there except one Slytherin girl. When Harry looked closely, he was relieved that it was Zarina. Zarina looked at Harry hugging Hermione, and smiled appreciatively at him, giving him a thumbs up. Harry smiled brightly at her and gave her one back.

Hermione soon stopped sobbing and looked up at Harry with a teary face.

"Hermione, I can't deny the fact that I was very upset with you. I am still not very happy about the fact that you completely believe me now only after Dumbledore announced this fact to the school" said Harry gently.

Hermione looked at the floor in shame.

Gently lifting her chin up, Harry continued speaking, "Hermione, I consider you as the sister I never had. And as an honorary brother, I would like to give you some advise. Please don't blindly trust books and authority figures. Please look deeper into any matter before giving out judgements. I still consider you as my friend but it will take some time before we are back to being the best friends" said Harry gently.

Hermione slowly nodded her head and replied "I understand Harry".

Harry nodded at her and started walking back to the library when Hermione called out, "But what about Ron Harry?" asked Hermione curiously.

Immediately, Harry's expression became quite serious and grave.

"I am sorry Hermione, but I can't easily befriend him again. Not only did he not believe me, but he also took part in some amount of slander. So, I don't think I can so easily trust him ever again. After all, I did learn something from my Godfather's experience with a certain rat" said Harry firmly before dashing off to the library to look up on some additional spells for the task.

The next morning Harry took off for the astronomy tower under his invisibility cloak. When he reached the classroom, Zarina was already there.

"Good mornnnning Harry" she squealed excitedly and ran towards him and hugged him fiercely. Harry who was too shocked to respond due to this sudden physical contact just patted her clumsily, and returned the greeting with a smile.

"Hey Harry, I am really happy for you that you got one of your friends back. You need all the support that you can get to get through this tournament" said Zarina sincerely.

"Thanks Zarina, Hermione is like my sister, which I never had. I didn't realize before yesterday, how much I missed her. But there is something which troubles me and is causing me a lot of confusion" said Harry.

"What is it Harry?"asked Zarina gently.

"Yesterday evening, when I came back to the common room, so many Gryffindors apologized to me for not believing me. I just don't know what to do with them. On one hand, they really betrayed me by slandering me. On the other hand, I can't find it within me to simply hate others. Forgiveness is something which is a core part of myself and I can't simply not lose it. I thought that since you are one of my close friends now, I could ask your opinion" said Harry gently.

"Harry, there is nothing wrong in forgiving others for their mistakes. Because if you hold on to grudges, you will soon become a bitter man with life-long grudges like our greasy haired Snape. Apparently, it seems as if he had some grudge against our previous DADA teacher, Remus Lupin. That is why, he must have revealed the information to the entire school that Professor Lupin is a werewolf. What I don't understand is the irrational prejudice of the people against werewolves in general. Professor Lupin was an excellent teacher who was only dangerous on one day of a Lunar month and harmless for the next 28 days. And he never bit anybody last year. It is such a pity that we lost such a great teacher" said Zarina sadly.

Harry smiled internally. His estimation of the slytherin girl had gone up by notches when she had spoken out against the discrimination meted out to werewolves and defended his father's friend.

"The point that I am trying to make is that, Harry, forgiveness doesn't mean blind trust. You can forgive a person, but choose to maintain a safe distance from him or her in the future. That way, you will be mentally peaceful without hard feelings and that person won't get the opportunity to betray or cheat you. You can apply this same philosophy in dealing with your housemembers" said Zarina wisely.

Harry pondered upon her words and found them to be reasonable. He just nodded at her.

"Anyway Harry, we will continue practicing some extra spells for your 1st task. It will be good to have a greater arsenal of spells, if you are going to face a dragon. But the problem is that, this room will not be sufficient enough for that. We need a bigger room. Do you have any idea?"asked Zarina.

Harry smiled at her. "I do have an idea indeed. I know of a place where only I can get in and practice spells" said Harry.

"Which place is that Harry?" asked Zarina curiously.

Harry leaned closer to her and whispered in her ears. Zarina's eyes widened and she looked at Harry with shocked eyes.

"The Chamber of secrets?" asked Zarina in disbelief.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note****: Hi everyone. This is my new chapter.**

Zarina was looking shell shocked at the corpse of the 70 foot basilisk.

"And, you killed it with just a sword?" asked Zarina disbelievingly.

"Yes, I did" answered Harry. "Though the credit for this should also go to Dumbledore's pet phoenix Fawkes who blinded the basilisk and also to sorting hat who gave me this sword" said Harry with humility.

Harry had brought Zarina to the chamber and explained to her the whole story of what had happened in his 2nd year. Needless to say, she was shocked.

"Harry, if someone else would have said the same thing to me, I would not have easily believed it. But, I believe you Harry. You are someone who would fight any sort of injustice against all possible odds because you can't bear to see someone in distress. I know that what I am saying goes completely contrary to what many Slytherins think and believe, but I respect the decision you took when you rushed into this chamber to save Ginny Weasley. It is not foolhardy or stupid Gryffindor bravery as some less intelligent fools of my house might think, but it shows valour, chivalry and deep courage which very few people in the world possess today.

Had it not been for your courage and valour, or what some people might call 'Saving people thing' that night, I might not have been alive today. I will always be grateful to you for saving Harry. All that I saying is that, from now on, I am willing to accompany you in whatever adventure or mission you go, that is, only if you wish Harry. You had Hermione and Ron with you earlier, now you have me too" said Zarina emotionally.

Harry just looked incredulously at Zarina. He was immensely touched by her words. Who was this girl? And why didn't he meet her before?

Without hesitation, Harry hugged her fiercely with tears in his eyes. Zarina seemed to understand his predicament as she slowly patted him on the back whispering soothing words to him.

After some time, when they released each other, Harry had a broad grin on his face, which was mirrored by Zarina.

"Let's get to work Shafiq" said Harry, after which both of them set out to practice some basic spell casting. Zarina taught Harry some advanced higher-year spells which Harry quickly learnt, all thanks to her encouragement.

Finally, it was time for both of them to go back to their rooms.

"Harry, there is something which I have to say, which will be immensely useful for your 1st task. It is regarding the special talent which you possess. Using this talent, you can easily deal with the reptilian, snake-like dragons. Can you guess what is it?" asked Zarina, her eyes shining with mirth.

Harry thought fast about what his special talent could be when understanding dawned upon him.

"Oh I see…" said Harry.

"Yeah Harry, and using this special talent of yours, you can do this task quite easily. Here is what I think you can do…" said Zarina before launching into her idea.

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Harry was sitting in the tent waiting for his turn to face the gigantic Hungarian horntail. His competitors were pacing around the tent, battling with their nerves. They were surprised when they saw Harry relaxing comfortably, apparently smiling with his eyes closed.

The past one week had gone in a blur.

Through a letter sent by Hedwig, Harry had spoken to Sirius about getting thrown into this tournament and about the first task. Sirius had said that he believed Harry, comforted him through encouraging words and advised him to try out the conjunctivitis curse to blind the Dragon. Sirius' words had indeed comforted Harry but Harry was unwilling to use the conjunctivitis curse and cause pain to the mother dragon, when Zarina had suggested a better alternative way.

Also, there was the wand weighing ceremony where Harry had the misfortune of meeting Rita Skeeter, a vile journalist who twisted Harry's words to make a sob-story which appeared in the next day's edition of the Daily Prophet. It was completely rubbish of course. Dumbeldore had banned Rita from the Hogwarts grounds after that, but it was rumoured that apparently Rita had her own ways of getting into forbidden places and extracting juicy information. That article gave Harry the reputation of a tragic attention seeker, but harry didn't bother with the gossip. After all, it was the same typical sheep mentality of the Hogwarts residents, who didn't have minds of their own but instead believed those people who were making the loudest noise at that moment.

With a jerk, Harry was brought back to the present when the first whistle was blown. Soon, each one of them went and faced their respective dragons. Harry didn't bother to listen to Bagman's commentary. He was absolutely confident of pulling this idea of.

Finally when his turn came, he went to the enclosure where the mother dragon was standing protectively over her eggs, and spouting fire from her nostrils.

He raised his wand, pointed it at his throat and said "Sonorous".

"_My heartfelt Greetings to honourable mother Dragon, I mean no harm to you. Please listen to me" _said Harry in parseltongue.

The crowd which had been roaring and booing in equal measure suudenly became silent on hearing the hissing sounds of parseltongue.

The Dragon which had been spouting fire before stopped her activity and regarded him intently.

"_The golden egg which sits amidst your precious eggs is not the real one. It has been placed near your eggs by the same people who torture you with chains"_ said Harry in parseltongue.

On hearing this, the Dragon looked at her eggs& picked up the golden egg but suddenly became enraged when she smelt it and recognized it as a fake, and started spouting fire again vigourously. Harry could understand her predicament. In fact, he felt revolted with this whole tournament thing now. Innocent mother dragons were being forced to compete just for the sick entertainment of witches and wizards, and that too, with her precious eggs in danger. How could anyone promote such a barbaric form of entertainment?

"_Please give that golden egg to me so that your precious eggs will remain safe. My mother sacrificed herself to save me. So, I understand your predicament. I promise you that I have not come here to harm you or your eggs. Please give me that golden egg so that I can walk out of here safely" said Harry beseechingly._

The Dragon looked at Harry penetratingly for a long time. For a moment, Harry was afraid that his words didn't have any impact on the dragon, but then suddenly the dragon picked up the golden egg using its snout and tossed it at Harry, who caught it deftly.

"_Thanks mother Dragon" _said Harry gratefully, to which the mother dragon bowed at him before sitting protectively over her eggs.

Whistling a happy tune, Harry picked up the golden egg and walked away from the enclosure. On the way,he passed by Zarina who winked at him and discreetly gave him a thumbs up which Harry returned.

The whole audience was stunned into silence. Nobody paid attention when Bagman commented that Harry was the quickest person to finish the task and that too without any injuries.

On entering the hospital wing-tent, he was immediately accosted by Madam Pomphrey who fussed over him and started checking him for injuries. She was surprised when she didn't find any.

That was when, Harry was tackled by a mass of bushy brown hair.

"Harry, you were so amazing. I didn't know that Dragons could understand parseltongue. That was simply brilliant, though I couldn't understand what you said to the Dragon. Oh Harry, I thought that you were simply bluffing when you told me that day that you would have to face a dragon, but I can't believe that they actually made you face a dragon. I mean, how could they…?" Hermione ranted, but she suddenly stopped when Harry put a finger on her lips.

Harry looked at Hermione for the first time .She had nail marks all over her face. It looked as if she had been immensely worried about him, when he had been dealing with the dragon.

"Don't worry Hermione, I am absolutely fine" said Harry with a smile, which she returned. Then, Harry noticed another person standing behind Hermione, bowing down in shame.

"Harry, I just wanted to say that whoever wanted to put your name into the cup ah umm…I mean to say, you didn't put your name into the cup. I am really sorry" said Ron shamefacedly.

Harry looked at Ron intently for a few moments until Ron started fidgeting nervously. Hermione was looking at both of them nervously hoping that everything went well.

"Ron, I can't just pretend that your behavior in the past one month didn't hurt me. You were my second friend in the magical world after Hagrid. We went through so many adventures together. But when you and Hermione just abandoned me after my name was announced by the goblet, do you know how bad I felt? Did you feel resentment against me because I was the boy-who-lived. You know Ron, I would gladly give up this ridiculous title so that I can gain back my lost family members. You don't know Ron, how lucky you are that you have such a big supportive family who care for you. But me, I have never known what is love after spending 10 miserable years with my cruel muggle relatives" ranted Harry.

By this time, Hermione's face was filled with tears and Ron looked highly uncomfortable and guilt laden.

"Ron, a very dear wellwisher of mine recently said to me that one must forgive others readily but must not blindly trust them again, for peace of mind. That is what I am going to do. Ron, I forgive you for whatever you have said to me since the Halloween, and we can still remain cordial with each other but I am sorry to say that we can't go back to being the best friends again. That will take a very long time. The same goes for you too Hermione. That is all what I have got to say now" said Harry before going out of the tent to receive his scores, leaving a thoughtful Ron and Hermione behind struggling with their guilt.

Harry didn't notice the residents of the tent namely Fleur, Krum, Cedric, Madam Pomphrey who were sitting slack jawed after Harry openly admitted to having been ill-treated by the Dursleys, nor did he notice the disillusioned form of Zarina who had heard every word spoken by Harry and who was shedding tears for her best friend.

Unsurprisingly, Harry received the highest scores for the first task putting him in the lead. He took the Golden egg to his Gryffindor common room where a grand party was awaiting him.

**Author's Note: That's all for now folks. Hope everyone liked this story.**


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